Sidewalk vendors protest eviction

JAKARTA: At least 50 evicted vendors from Jl. Pancoran in Glodok, West Jakarta, staged a protest at the City Council on Tuesday, asking for support to get their businesses up and running.

The coordinator of the sidewalk vendors, Gati Wibowo, said the city administration had been barking up the wrong tree because the area had been the city administration's pilot project for sidewalk vendors since the 1980s.

The eviction was carried out on Nov. 3, the first day of the Idul Fitri holiday. The West Jakarta administration planned to convert the busy commercial area into a public park.

Receiving a report on the protest, Governor Sutiyoso said that he would communicate with Mayor Fadjar Panjaitan over the matter.

"We can arrange to move the vendors to another place," he said. -- JP